Tokyo cops: Man slashed woman in face over music dispute

Man allegedly slashed a female acquaintance with a knife outside a bar in Sugninami Ward

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 48-year-old man who allegedly slashed a female acquaintance over a dispute related to the composition of a piece of music, reports Nippon News Network (Oct. 23).

At around 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Kentaro Yamaoka allegedly used a knife with a 4.5-centimeter-long blade to slash the woman, a 47-year-old lecturer at a vocational school, beneath her right cheek outside a bar in the Asagaya Minami area.

The woman was transported to a hospital with light injuries.

Yamaoka, who has been charged with inflicting injury, admits to the allegations. “I became filled with anger upon seeing her,” the suspect is quoted by the Suginami Police Station. “I thought I would gouge her eye.”

The suspect and victim, who first met through music-related work about 10 years, encountered one another at the bar by accident. Witnesses told police that after a quarrel erupted the pair moved outside to a street, where he committed the alleged crime.

According to Nikkan Sports (Oct. 23), the origin of the dispute is a claim by the suspect that the victim stole a piece of music that he had written.